Cold morning gives way to warmer week in Volusia-Flagler

Expect another cool day in the Volusia-Flagler area for Presidents' Day before things begin to warm up building to a glorious Daytona 500 weekend.

STAFF REPORT

Expect another cool day in the Volusia-Flagler area for Presidents' Day before things begin to warm up building to a glorious Daytona 500 weekend.

Things started cold this morning, with temperatures at or just below freezing in parts of Flagler County, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

In Daytona Beach, the temperature was coldest at about 2 a.m. when it dropped to 32, according to Weather Service records.

Temperatures overnight dropped to a low of 25 degrees at one of the Weather Service's cooperative observer stations in DeLand. At a Weather Service gauge in DeLand, the temperature remained at 32 or below for about eight hours, dropping to a low of 30 degrees at one point.

Elsewhere temperatures appeared to be coldest just before 7 a.m., when it dropped to 28 in Bunnell, 30 in Ormond Beach and 34 in New Smyrna Beach.

A gradual climb in temperatures will peak in just the low 60s this afternoon. Skies will be clear with winds out of the east at about 10 mph.

It will stay warmer tonight, with temperatures dropping into the high 40s. That's the start of a general warming trend that will see temperatures reaching the low 80s by Friday with scant chance of rain into next week.

The forecast for Thursday's Budweiser Duel twin qualifying races calls for mostly sunny skies, a high in the low to mid 70s and just a 10 percent chance of rain.

It should be more of the same for Sunday's Daytona 500: mostly sunny, a high of 77 degrees and a 20 percent chance of rain.